Doug Winnail (LCG) Does Not Like LCG Being Accused of "Prediction Addiction"

Doug Winnail has a short little piece up about how important prophecy watching is to the Living Church of God, while ignoring the fact that every prophetic utterance that has come out of Rod Meredith and Herbert Armstrong's mouth has failed to come to pass.  He is especially suffered major butthurt over LCG and its leaders being accused of suffering from "prediction addiction."

Jesus told His disciples to stay alert and watch for the fulfillment of specific prophecies that will mark the approaching end of this age (Matthew 24). Jesus also warned in the parable of the foolish virgins that many will be caught napping by the surge of events that will precede His return to this earth (Matthew 25:1-13). God has given His Church a “more sure word of prophecy” (2 Peter 1:19, KJV) so His Church can act as a watchman to warn about the prophetic significance of both current and impending world events (Ezekiel 3 and 33; Proverbs 24:11-12). Yet over the years, misguided teachers and preachers have ridiculed the Church’s understanding of prophecy and accused anyone watching Bible prophecy of suffering from “prediction addiction.” However, as we see world events fitting into the end-time scenario that is outlined in Scripture, we need to make sure we are building a closer relationship with God and that we are learning to live by every word of God—as we continue to pay attention to prophecy.

Have a profitable Sabbath,

Douglas S. Winnail

What really irradiates LCG and Winnail is that the "prediction addiction" phrase came from Grace Communion International who finally woke up to the fact that the decades of prophecies that the church and Herbert Armstrong uttered were nothing more than speculation.  There was nothing prophetic about any of the predictions.

Here is what happens. You conclude from your study of prophecy and its chronological calculations that we are in the “end times,” and that a catastrophe of “biblical proportions” is going to befall us in “just a few short years” (they are always “short” years, it seems). You then “watch and pray,” anxiously (or perhaps eagerly), fitting the events and news of the day into your predetermined framework. You watch with growing anticipation as the evidence piles up.

The problem is that the pile of evidence starts to get very shaky, and the “short years” stretch into decades. Although the pattern of major world events may not fit neatly into your prophetic scenarios, you can still find enough catastrophes to stay in the game, while you hastily recalibrate your prophetic timetable. GCI UPDATE: Prediction Addiction

Armstrongite ministers have always had to "recalculate" their predictions, or if you want a more accurate word...LIES.

Gavin Rumney had this up on his blog in 2013:

Our Roots of Prediction Addiction 

Some of us have learnt over the years to view "Bible Prophecy" with a jaundiced eye. The attempt to turn the complex texts of the Old and New Testaments into a coherent road map for the near future is doomed to failure from the outset. Ancient writings simply can't be read that way with any integrity. It's not just bad theology and rotten exegesis, it's a display of dull and incompetent basic reading skills. 

Where did we pick up the bad habit? When did the peculiar blend of Bible-quoting, fear-saturated fantasies we are familiar with first take recognizable shape? Doomsdayers have of course been with us from the earliest days of Christianity - with deep roots in Jewish apocalyptic. If we are honest about it, we can probably trace the trail even further back to the influence of dualistic religions like Zoroastrianism. 

But the version we're most familiar with owes a great deal to the Adventist "Midnight Cry." Stepping back into the nineteenth century we find the seeds of our particular prediction addiction. The various churches that have historic ties to William Miller (and, on the other side of the Atlantic, the equally disturbed John Nelson Darby) are still largely in thrall to bizarre and naive biblical misinterpretations, and the delusion that they have some kind of special "inside knowledge" about the future.  Our Roots Of Prediction Addiction

The extreme lengths we go to in the Church of God's is all due to our Adventist roots in William Miller and Ellen G White.   These two set the stage for HWA, Meredith, Thiel, Malm, Waterhouse and others.

Don Solin had an excellent article in The Hufffington Post about "prediction addiction."

Do You Have “Prediction Addiction”?

While his comments are geared more towards the stock market, it is applicable to "prediction addiction" in the Churches of God.  He writes:

This addiction is a particularly bad one. Not only are our brains hard-wired to believe we can predict the future and make sense out of random acts, it rewards us for doing so. The brain of someone engaged in this activity experiences the same kind of pleasure that drug addicts get from cocaine or gamblers experience when they enter a casino.

When predicting the unpredictable goes south, as it inevitably will, the neurons in the brain start misfiring, causing panic and anxiety.

Anything less than total confidence in our predictions implies that we have lost control. The brain resists this conclusion. Random events are perceived as the enemy.

In Armstrongism everything seems to be the enemy.  Some of its leaders find no joy in anything.  They need the world and church members to be just as miserable as they are.  Just look at the mindless rankings of James Malm and Bob Thiel.  Has the church ever seen two such unhappy men?

Living Church of God also blames Jesus for this addiction.  Note what John Wheeler had to say:

Allegedly, Jesus Himself set His followers up for "prediction addiction" in Matthew 24:3-7 when He warned of religious deception in His name, "wars and rumors of wars," famines, pestilences and earthquakes. "These things have always been around since Jesus' day," scoffers say (cf. 2 Peter 3:3–4). But they overlook the real significance of Matthew 23:8: "All these are the beginning of birth pangs" (literal Greek). When a woman is in labor, her birth pangs come in cycles, but they come more quickly and more strongly over time—leading to the "crisis" of childbirth itself. So it would be in the "latter days." During the space of a generation (Matthew 24:32–35), first broadly relevant events would occur with increasing frequency and intensity. Then, very specific events would occur with little or no warning in a very short time (cf. vv. 4–31). And all that is what students of biblical prophecy need to be watching for! No need to try to predict the day or the hour of Christ's return; that cannot be done (vv. 36–44). It is enough to be ready, no matter when all these events take place (vv. 45–51).  Tomorrow's World: Prediction Addiction 

If all of these people were actually followers of the Jesus Christ they claim to follow then they would not need to be in a constant state of worry and fret over events in the world.  World events happen as they happen, some may fit some imagined timeline, most will not.  Resting in the one you are supposed to be following is far more rewarding than following crackpots like Malm, Thiel, Meredith and others who make outlandish claims about world events.  These liars have no idea about "end time" events any more than your cat or dog does.

Matthew 11:28-30The Message (MSG)

28-30 “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”

There Is A New Prophet In Our Midst Who Also Has Had A Dream Setting Him Apart

Almost Arrested, Elisha, Elijah, Amos, Joshua, Doubly Blessed Prophet/Apostle, Second Witless Witnsess and Future Martyr Bob Thiel has been working over time in trying to convince everyone that just because he had some nightmares after some bad Chinese food that he is now a true prophet of God.  He dreamed a dream and that proves it! We are expected to take his word for it.  Its all true!

Thiel has now been usurped by E W King.  Prophet King had a dream recently there he was named a true prophet of God.  If Almost Arrested Thiel can claim that his dream was legitimate, why can't King?  If I were going to pick one of the two, I would pick King as a prophet.  He seems kinder and gentler than the attention seeking narcissist Thiel.  Both men are just a few steps short of entering the looney-bin.

~Prophet Eric W. King taken December 16th at Land of Mormon Temple - The Alter~

“One of them lifted his right hand and spoke [unto Eric]. He said: “We have come from the celestial kingdom to call you forth as a prophet of God in this seventh church time. Behold, I am Elijah the prophet.” At this pronouncement I fell to the ground shaking madly. Then the other personage spoke: “Behold, I am, John the apostle. You have been working for the kingdom and now you must take on your full responsibility as prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ in this Seventh Church Time. You have rightly studied and discerned the seven church eras thus you have been lead by the Spirit of God and now called to take on the authority and responsibility of speaking with boldness and carrying this message with grace and humility to the church and to the entire world. You must now without any doubt fully trust the Lord.”

~The night of December 12th 2016 Vision~

Because of this fact we also believe that America has been given a record of its own ancient Scripture which we recognize to be what is called “The Book of Mormon”. This record of ancient Scripture was found by the prophet Joseph Smith back on September 22, 1823. 

Please understand that though we recognize this record of Scripture WE ARE NOT MORMONS in the regular sense of the title. After the death of Joseph Smith the church scattered as it always does after the death of a great leader. We do not believe in any other prophets after Joseph Smith accept for Sidney Rigdon and Eric King. We do recognize Brigham Young to be an authentic prophet but not in the same sense as Joseph Smith and it was he who led the group of people which latter on became known as “The Mormon Church” and what is today called “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints”. So again, though we recognize the Book of Mormon to be an actual scriptural record of ancient America we do not call ourselves Mormons in the regular sense. ~

Dave Pack: Ministers Who Will Soon Be Joining Me Will Come Out Of The Ground

Dave says that many ministers who will be joining his cult will be coming to him out of the ground.

Many of the ministers that are coming to do the Work and enter the Kingdom are coming out of the ground, brethren. I am telling you, a lot of them wrote their record—they have built their character—they’ve served other people—they were faithful, in some cases, for decades before Mr. Armstrong died, and then they went wherever they went. But they are taken away because they’re settled, and they’ll come up at Christ’s Coming. 

Others are dying, and they just died. They might have been tares. They might have fallen away completely, in the past. That’s why we don’t want to judge. Don’t decide that they were evil—and don’t decide that they were righteous. Just be aware of the process that, in many cases, God takes righteous men away from an evil I’m going to explain next week—that all of you know nothing of. The time has come to explain it. It just got particularly personal this week with a group of people I knew and helped come into the Global Church of God, and I wanted to explain that.